WELL OVER a year ago, the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance completed an examination of Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s 2010 campaign. It focused on possible violations of campaign finance rules. But the report has yet to be published. The reasons are hard to fathom and raise...

CONGRESS HAS a lot of bad habits, none more maddening than passing temporary tax deductions and credits for special purposes and special interests. In theory, this enables lawmakers to reassess them periodically, keeping the ones that work and discarding the rest. In practice,...

WELL OVER a year ago, the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance completed an examination of Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s 2010 campaign. It focused on possible violations of campaign finance rules. But the report has yet to be published. The reasons are hard to fathom and raise...

Gov. Chris Christie (R) is in trouble for appearing, during an election season, in television ads inviting people back to the Jersey Shore following Hurricane Sandy. Next door in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has adopted a different, but also controversial, state marketing...

On Jan. 1, Colorado began permitting the legal sale of marijuana. Even before that, the nation’s news media had swung into action, arguing just about everything — marijuana is dangerous or not dangerous, a gateway drug or just a lot of smoke. Nothing I saw mentioned why I,...

The drinking water in nine West Virginia counties has finally been declared safe, or mostly safe. But many people say they can still smell the licorice-like odor of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol — in the sink, in the shower, in the air, especially in neighborhoods close to the Elk...

The 2014 Olympic Winter Games haven’t started, but they’ve already produced their first scandal. The host country’s president, Vladimir Putin, runs a notoriously despotic regime whose victims include not only independent journalists and political opponents but...

Fareed Zakaria [“Fanning the Middle East flames,” Washington Forum, Jan. 17] argued that the United States should steer clear of intervening in the Syrian civil war, as U.S. involvement would only make matters “worse.” Given that the conflict has created millions of Syrian...

I usually enjoy Petula Dvorak’s common sense, but her column on leaving decorations up well past Christmas [“Christmas in January riles up the Grinches,” Metro, Jan. 17] was a reminder that thoughtfulness is also needed. Rituals express the joy in our lives. If you come...